Bag bale

ABSTRACT

A bale of bags is provided which is strapped about the thickest areas of the bag bottoms. A sleeve of paper is wrapped about the bale at right angles to the direction of the straps.

United States Patent Edwards et al.

May 7, 1974 BAG BALE Inventors: John W. Edwards, Richmond;

Herbert G. Tull, III, Charlottesville,

both of Va.

Assignee: Hoerner Waldorf Corporation, St.

Paul, Minn.

Filed: Jan. 3, 1972 Appl. No.: 214,670

Related US. Application Data Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 120,543,March 3, I971, abandoned.

us. Cl ..206/499, 206/801, 206/835,

, 61 5 322918113 rm. Cl 865d 71/00' Field of Search 229/87 R; 206/60 R,60 A, 206/65 R, 65 B, 468 K, 83.5

-[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,849,330 3/1932 Moore206/60 R 2,342,565 2/1944 Weeks 1/1965 Easter et al. 206/65 R PrimaryExaminer-William I. Price Assistant Examiner-John M. Caskie Attorney,Agent, or FirmRobert M. Dunning [57] ABSTRACT A bale of bags is providedwhich is strapped about the thickest areas of the bag bottoms. A sleeveof paper is wrapped about the bale at right angles to the direction ofthe straps.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures BAG BALE This is a continuation in partapplication of an application for Bag Bale Ser. No. 120,543 filed Mar.3, 1971 entitled Bag Bale, now abandoned.

This invention relates to an improvement in Bag Bale and dealsparticularly with a package of bags which are normally of the grocerybag type.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In our previous application above referredto, a series of hands of bags, usually 25 bags to eagh hand are stackedwith the thicker ends of the bags in opposed relation. Alternate handsof bags are reversed relatively to the others so that the resultingstack is of substantially equal thickness at each end. The bags arecompressed together under high pressure, and straps are applied aboutthe stacks to form a bale. The straps are positioned so as to encirclethe thickest. portions of the bag body.

While such bales have been successfully used, one difficulty has beenexperienced. In order to effectively strap the bales, the straps must bespaced several inches from the ends of the bale, as this is the area ofthe bag which is thickest. As a result, there has been a tendency forthe ends of the bags, outwardly .of the straps, to fan out after balingso that the ends of the bale are somewhat thicker than the centerportions thereof. As a result, when the bags are palletized'withalternate rows of bales extending crossways of the bags of the lowerlayer in order to provide stability to the pallet, a slight instabilityis produced by the outwardly fanned bag ends. Furthermore, while thepallets of bags are normally protected by an outer wrapping'of plasticor paper,

once the pallet is opened and the enclosing wrapper is removed, theremaining bales on the pallets are open to contamination in a warehouseor the like. It is an object of the present invention to avoid theseprevious difficulties.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention resides inthe provision of a sleeve extending about the bale designed to overliethe upper bag of the bale and to underlie the lower bag thereof. Thewrapper extends about the bale in a direction at right angles to thestraps holding the bale together. The paper sleeve is secured in tubularform while the bags are under compression. As a result, the sleeve holdsthe bag ends from fanning out and also acts as a protection for the bagsurfaces. Any tendency for the straps to stretchis reduced by thepresence of the encircling sleeve. The baling straps hold the bale.

from expansion while the encircling sleeve holds the bag ends fromfanning out. As a result the rectangular form of the bag is maintainedand the resulting bales will stack more evenly upon a supporting palletand the bales are held in generally rectangular form.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the provision of abale having baling straps extending about the bags in a directiontransversally of their length and in providing a sleeve encircling thebale and extending longitudinally of the length of the bags. This sleevenot only holds the bale of bags in substantially rectangular relation,but also prevents any tendency for the bags to slide longitudinally.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invention willbe more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification andclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a baleof bags, showing the general arrangement thereof.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the bale before the ends of theencircling sleeve are attached together.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the bale.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION As wasdescribed in the previous application above referred to, the bags A arestacked to form hands of bags arranged with the bottom ends of the bagsin superimposed relation. While the open ends of the bags are of athickness of four plies of paper, the bottom ends of the bags are of athickness which is usually 8 or 10 plies. Usually the bags are of 8 plythickness at their extremity when flat while an area of the bottom whichis spaced usually several inches from the bottom extremity of the foldedbags is of 10 ply thickness.

The hands of bags 10 are stacked with the bottom ends of the bags of onehand overlying the top ends of the bag of the next adjacent hands. Byproviding an even number of hands in the bale, the ends of the stack areof substantially equal thickness. The stack of bag hands are placedunder high compression by suitable means such as a hydraulicallyoperated platen press,

of bags which are not compressed in the same manner.

To complete the bale, an elongated strip of paperboard 12 is wrappedabout the bale in a direction at right angles to the straps 11. Thestrip of paper 12 is of a width substantially equal to the width of thebags, or may be of greater width if it is desired to also enclose theside edges of the bag. As indicated in the drawings the sheet ofpaperboard 12 includes a panel portion 13 designed to extend over an endof the series of bags, and top and bottom panels 14 and 14 designed toextend over and under the bale; An end flap 15 is folded upwardly toenclose to opposite ends of the bale, and adhesive 16 is applied to theinner surface of a top flap l7, and this flap is folded to overlie theflap 15 and is secured thereto. The sheet 12 is applied while the baleis under compression so that when the bale is released from compression,the bags are held from fanning outwardly of the straps 11 the sheet 12also preventing the hands of bags from shifting longitudinally duringshipment or handling.

The sheet 12 serves as a cover for the bale after the pallet has beenopened and prevents contamination of the outer bags of the bale.Furthermore the sheet 12 extends in a direction at right angles to thestraps 11 so as to form solid blocks of material which are virtuallyrectangular in form and may be readily palletized in stable loads. As amatter of fact, the pallets may be stacked one above the other to theheight of several pallets without danger of tipping over.

In accordance with the Patent Statutes, I have described the principlesof construction and operation of my improvement in Bag Bale; while Ihave endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire tohave it understood that obvious changes may be made within the scope ofthe following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

We claim:

1. A bale including:

a plurality of bags in a flat-form,

a transverse area near one end of each bag being of substantiallygreater thickness than the other end thereof said area of greaterthickness being on one side of the center of the length of the bags,

said bags being stacked with said one end, of substantially one half ofthe bags overlying the other end of the remaining bags,

said bags being held in compressed state by a pair of straps extendingtransversely about the stack, said straps being located about the areasof substantially greater thickness, and

a wrapper encircling the bags and extending in a direction at rightangles to said straps.

2. The bale of FIG. 1 and in which the ends of the wrapper are securedtogether.

3. The structure of claim 1 and in which the wrapper is formed of paper.

4. The structure of claim 1 and in which the wrapper includes an endportion extending along one end of the bale, upper and lower portionsextending over and under the bale, and end portions in overlappingrelation.

5. The structure of claim 3 and in which the end portions of the wrapperare secured together by adhesive.

1. A bale including: a plurality of bags in a flat form, a transversearea near one end of each bag being of substantially greater thicknessthan the other end thereof said area of greater thickness being on oneside of the center of the length of the bags, said bags being stackedwith said one end, of substantially one half of the bags overlying theother end of the remaining bags, said bags being held in compressedstate by a pair of straps extEnding transversely about the stack, saidstraps being located about the areas of substantially greater thickness,and a wrapper encircling the bags and extending in a direction at rightangles to said straps.
 2. The bale of FIG. 1 and in which the ends ofthe wrapper are secured together.
 3. The structure of claim 1 and inwhich the wrapper is formed of paper.
 4. The structure of claim 1 and inwhich the wrapper includes an end portion extending along one end of thebale, upper and lower portions extending over and under the bale, andend portions in overlapping relation.
 5. The structure of claim 3 and inwhich the end portions of the wrapper are secured together by adhesive.